Tuesday, July 12, 2011

One Hundred and One Degrees

This my friends is the only cure for the heat and humidity of the South. There were quite a few of these consumed at the beach this past weekend I can tell you that! NPR kept reminding me today in my studio that it was 101 degrees, like I really needed to hear that over and over while working in a studio without AC! I did manage to get some work done, had the fans going and I am down in the shady part of the yard, so it was sort of tolerable, better than the ice and snow anyway. Camera batteries were dead or I would show you some proof of my labors.
I have a little story for you from this past Sunday. I got up very early while the light was still nice to go shoot some pictures in the very old cemetery across the street from where I was staying in Beaufort. It was behind this beautiful old church, and I was wishing that I had planned better, I would have gone in for the 8:30 service. I walked around with the dead for about an hour, really enjoying the quiet and reading all of the old tombstones, many with dates from the 1700's. I have this thing for cemeteries, they don't frighten me or creep me out, for some reason, I am really drawn to them. So anyway, it was getting hot around 8am and I knew my friend Barbara would be up and wondering where I was, so I went out through the very old iron gate and headed up the sidewalk.
Just as I walked through the gate this slightly bent over, very old man appeared out of nowhere and smiled at me. I said hello and he said, with a very sweet smile "would you like to go to church with me?" He was such a kind and gentle looking soul, and I wanted more than anything to go into church with him. I said that I had thought about it, but I wasn't prepared and I kept walking. All of a sudden I just burst into tears, and I have no idea why, I guess I just wanted to be able to say yes, and go into that beautiful old church with this little old man and I missed an amazing chance to have an interesting moment in time. I know that I will regret that I didn't just go in, but my friend would have been worried, and my stomach would have been growling, because I had not eaten, and I really was not dressed for church, I had not even brushed my hair, not that I do that much anyway, but still.... so I will have that regret, but I have an interesting memory, and I'm actually wondering if he was real or if he was just a reminder to make sure I'm ready when interesting opportunities come up....
So there is my little graveyard story, here is a marker in the cemetery I shot for our friends across the pond. I'm not sure I understand this correctly, was he put in the ground vertically? Because on the coast you dig about three feet down and you hit water, was he a short guy? Or was he saluting and laid down in a horizontal position? so many mysteries in the world aren't there? Hope everyone had a cold one today!! See ya..........

6 comments:

Anna M. Branner said...

I've been to this cemetary! I love, love, love the old Southern graveyards with their Spanish Moss and sandy ground....though, a good New England Olde Burying Ground is awfully cool too. Can you tell??? I'm right there with you when it comes to graveyards....

Sandy Miller said...

We live in the old care takers house across from a very old cemetery in Ohio. Some of the headstones tell life's story....... love the one "Not Guilty" or the woman with a cup of coffee and cigarette on her headstone. Then there is the baby cemetery where my kids played hide and seek as youngsters. My youngest came home when she was 4 or 5 years old and was so excited: MOM, we're getting a new stone! The Ash Grove........... wouldn't live anywhere else.

Peter said...

Your post has laughter and tears, a wonderful combination! These days I keep thinking about how short life is (probably a late middle age preoccupation!), and there are those "moments" like your meeting the old man in the grave yard, where you are left wondering, "what if I had taken that path?" In NZ cemeteries seem often to be placed just outside towns, almost like a guilty secret. One thing I liked about some of the old towns we visited in the UK some years back was the way that the church and its grave yard was often right in town itself. And there was something lovely about the way the dead seemed to be honoured and cared for and still part of the community where they had lived their lives. As to the 3 foot man that was buried saluting! I also had those images. I guess he might also have been a very formal taller man who unfortunately was silly enough to stand up and salute in the midst of a battle!
:)

cookingwithgas said...

your life is full of adventure- as it should be.
Yes, pass the limes- it is hot as....

ang design said...

101 deg would be nice right now although today is looking slightly warmer and sunny :P nice trip trace..

Paul Jessop said...

Great Post, I'm sure that chap would have been burried standing up it's a very british stiff upper lip kinda thing. I love spike milligan's grave stone it simply say's
" I told you I was ill".